MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - A plane carrying three U.S. senators bound for a campaign event in Missouri landed in Alabama after pilots reported problems with the landing gear, a Republican official said. Ann Wagner, co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee and the Missouri Republican chairwoman, said late Monday that a plane carrying Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Sens. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., and Rick Santorum, R-Pa., reported problems with its landing gear and landed at Mobile. A police report at Mobile Regional Airport indicated that a Challenger 250 landed safely Monday at 3:28 p.m. CST after reporting its landing...

Sandy Who? Two weeks ago, Republicans were filled with glee, as Democrats fell all over themselves, trying to diminish the fact that Bill Clinton’s former national security adviser, Samuel Berger, better known as Sandy, was caught stuffing classified documents and national secrets down his drawers, in his jacket, in his socks, and in a leather portfolio, in order to steal them from the National Archives, and to later destroy some of them. (Berger returned some documents, but only after he was caught, and had “accidentally” destroyed the most important ones.) Note that Berger reportedly burgled the Archives on as many...

Republicans are filled with glee, as Democrats fall all over themselves, trying to diminish the fact that Bill Clinton's former national security adviser, Sandy Berger, was caught stuffing classified documents and national secrets down his drawers, in his jacket, in his socks, and in a leather portfolio, in order to steal them from the National Archives, and to later destroy some of them. (Berger returned some documents, but only after he was caught.) Watergate, meet BVDgate. For the past thirty years, many observers have thought it the height of paranoia for Pres. Richard Nixon's men to burglarize the offices of...

(This column, like last week’s, is being filed early because of breaking news.) The election of 2002 is almost over. The third to last individual election was decided yesterday in South Dakota. “Third to last?” I hear you cry. You know about the Senate runoff in Louisiana. Bet you didn’t remember that Hawaii has an election on 30 November to fill the remaining ten minutes in the late Rep. Patsy Mink’s term. The winner won’t get to D.C. in time to have any duties, but that’s what Hawaii law requires. The big story here, however, is South Dakota. Republican Representative...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 — State polls showing that more than half a dozen Senate seats were still within either party's grasp prompted Republicans and Democrats today to intensify their feverish campaigns for control of the chamber. Seeking to influence the truly undecided voters — and to make sure those who have made up their minds go to the polls — both parties marshaled volunteers to ring doorbells and hand out leaflets. They also paraded big-name politicians and star-quality supporters before the cameras and drowned out commercials for consumer goods with advertisements extolling their candidates and assailing their opponents. Politicians and...

<p>"You gotta do what you gotta do," a victorious Bill Clinton told Bob Dole when he complained about the demagogic Medicare ads that helped defeat him. By now this seems to have become the mantra of Mr. Clinton's party.</p>
<p>To put the current midterm election in perspective, consider how the Democrats won their one-vote Senate majority. After losing the House and the White House, they won the Senate by persuading Vermont's Jim Jeffords to abandon the party in which he'd just been elected. For voting with the other side in organizing the Senate, he was rewarded with a committee chairmanship and an eventual expansion of his beloved Northeast dairy subsidy, a piece of pork notorious even in cynical Washington.</p>

Democrats face an uphill battle to recapture control of the House in November's midterm elections, while Republicans have marginally improved their position in what remains a tense and wide-open fight for control of the Senate, according to party strategists, independent analysts and current polls. September has seen Republican prospects brighten, particularly in New Jersey, where ethics problems have called into question what once seemed solid reelection prospects for Sen. Robert G. Torricelli, the most vulnerable Democrat in the nation. Republicans also have increased their chances of retaining the Senate seat in New Hampshire. And because of a controversy over a...

Winds of war stirring U.S. Senate races Candidates have difficulty gauging how Iraq will affect election 09/28/2002 By DAVID JACKSON / The Dallas Morning News INDIANOLA, Iowa As 2,000 of U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin's best Democratic friends swayed to the beat of a country band and munched on Iowa beef, the prospect of war with Saddam Hussein seemed as far away as Iraq itself. Certainly Mr. Harkin hopes so. Hosting his annual steak fry at a farm country fairground, the Democrat seeking his fourth Senate term said voters know that both parties will do whatever they can to protect...

Thousands of radio listeners in Missouri and across the nation heard U.S. Senate Candidate Jim Talent discuss the issues in the Missouri Senate race Wednesday evening. But they didn't hear from Jean Carnahan. As nationally syndicated host Jim Bohannon explained, Carnahan declined the show's invitation to appear in a segment with Talent, and declined to be interviewed by telephone separately, either before or after Talent's interview. Bohannon's Wednesday night program originated live from the Ozark Empire Fair in Springfield, Missouri, and was carried on 40 radio stations in Missouri and 400 stations coast to coast. Carnahan's decision to stay away...